At some point, it seems, the Yankees are going to have to knock someone out of their rotation to make room for Andy Pettitte. But Ivan Nova doesn’t seem too worried that he’ll be the odd man out.

“I’ve just got to keep pitching the way I pitch, and I don’t think it’s going to be any problem,” Nova said. “… You know what, I get more excited. I feel more excited. I know you’ve got to do more and try your best of what you’ve been doing. One way or the other, that’s going to help you. That’s what I feel.”

Even as a rookie who was shipped to the minor leagues last season, Nova always showed considerable confidence. He showed the same thing when I covered him in Triple-A, and to be honest, it initially came across as arrogance. At least, that’s the way I took it when first I covered him, but that’s shifted. Nova believes in himself and trusts himself, and perhaps that’s why he was never particularly worried after a couple of erratic starts earlier this spring.

Tonight, Nova makes his fourth spring start, and so the evaluation period has really kicked into gear.

“It’s the fourth or fifth start, they’re going to get spread out a lot more and start to use all their pitches,” Joe Girardi said. “If you’re having a hard time getting one pitch going in the first couple of innings you’ll have a little more time to get it going.”

Confident or not, Nova approaches this with something to proove.

“I always say that I’m in competition,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I win 20 games, I’m going to be in competition. I feel that way.”